MONUMENTS Monumental companies and big granite people, who job granite to the monument factories, are consistent users of photographs—it is practically the only medium now used to sell monuments, and while there are only about fifteen really large companies in the United States who de sign and build monuments and mausoleums, they have extensive sales forces and secure contracts in every section of the country. Also, practically every large piece of work is photographed.
This is very nice work and for the most part is largely in the hands of a few photographers who specialize in monuments only. One party I have in mind particularly, travels constantly all over the country, going to the various cemeteries and photographing any new or unusual designs which have been set in place since his last trip, and he uses these as stock negatives from which he sells prints to the monument people for use by their designers.
All of the large manufacturers, who create their own designs, have about everything they produce photographed, and their salesmen carry all their samples in the form of photographs.
The proposition in photographing monuments is that the maker wants to show every detail in the granite, the lettering and design, and as the monu ments are usually set in place prior to being photographed, it is a matter of selection of the right time of day to bring these items out well. A front side light is generally preferable, and if it is not possible to secure such a lighting as in the case of a monument set facing the north, the photographing had best be a day when the sky is overcast.
Another matter to consider is the background, for it does not take much to detract from the general appearance of a monument. Illustration No. 47 shows a monument with numerous other small stones in the foreground and off to the side, which decidedly mars its attractiveness, although it is really a very fine stone and a good seller. A bromide enlargement was made from this negative and the disfiguring stones were touched out with a mixture of India ink, a minute quantity of white water color and burnt umber, thinned down slightly with water. A little practice makes this work comparatively easy and the camouflaged stones make good looking shrubbery, as seen in illustration No. 48.
In cemetery work, there are a number of other details with which much care must be used. First of all, dirt should be cleaned off the monument and high grass carefully pulled away. Then, again one frequently encounters cases where, in getting the proper view of a monument with the camera in a fairly low position, there is another monument, possibly a little distance away and generally a high shaft, or a smoke stack or other disfiguring element, showing over the top of the monument being photographed. One way to get away from this is to collect some branches, which workmen are constantly trimming from trees and bushes in the cemeteries, and have your assistant hold them up a little distance back from the monument so that they will hide the undesirable feature, and keep the branches in motion while the exposure is on. This is very good camouflage and produces a much more desirable result than other wise.
Some manufacturers are now having monuments, excepting those which are too large to ship complete, such as mausoleums and memorials, and which have to be built on the site provided for them, photographed in the shop. Illustration No. 49 is a photograph made in this manner, with a side light from a window, and gives an ideal effect such as desired by the designers. The lettering- stands out prominently and the granite shows to advantage. Should the operator encounter reflections, as is often the case in photographing red or black marble, both in the shop and in the cemetery, a black screen can be carried along and used to kill these reflections, if placed in the proper position.
You will notice that this is an absolutely, pure black background, and as much of this kind of work is done, the proposition is to do it quickly and easily. Of course, it can be dug off with an etching knife, but this does not make a clean job. The method used to remove the film, in this instance, was to outline the monument which, by the way, should be photographed on a plate, with a sharp etching knife, that is, the film was cut through to the glass all around the monument. The film of the whole plate was then just wet through—just barely wet, when the negative was taken from the water, the surplus moisture dried off, placed on the retouching stand and the edge of the film caught up by the etching knife and rolled off the glass, leaving only the image of the monument on the clean glass. With a little practice you will find it is not at all difficult.
Sometimes this film will not peel off readily. This is usually due to two things. The first is, probably the fixing bath was old and it did not have enough acid in it. The second may be that the film is too wet. It must be just wet through and that is all.
The lens to be used does not always have to be of long focus, as a medium lens, say 12 to 14 inches, answers very nicely, but, of course, it has to be a lens of good covering power and the position of the camera must be low to give the appearance of massiveness. A favorite position is to show just a trifle of the end and all of the front. In photographing mausoleums, a long focus lens is far more preferable, but it should always he kept in mind that the monument people want them to show as impressive as possible, as future sales depend upon these photographs, that is, showing the most for the money.
A good plate for this work, especially in the shop where the background has to be skinned off, is the Standard Orthonon or any double-coated plate, not necessarily color sensitive. For outside work, where you have to go many miles sometimes and to photograph under all sorts of conditions, I do not think there is anything better than film used in connection with a yellow ray filter to give proper rendering of the foliage and background.
The size of the plate used is generally 8 x 10, `although some prefer 11 x 14. The prints from the 8 x 10 negatives are then made on 11 x 14 paper with a large white border and backed with muslin.